Saint Patrick’s Day. Fourth of July. Halloween.
For any day of the year, John Tracy had an appropriate tie.
“He has hundreds of ties, none of them traditional. Multiple ties for every holiday and occasion,” said Audrey Brooks, the business manager for Colorado Community Media, the publishing company for the Golden Transcript, who met Tracy when she started with the company in August 2004. “I remember about 10 years ago, he was trying to clean out some old ties so he’d have room in his closet for more.”
Tracy started out by bringing them to the Golden Transcript’s office — when it was located on Rubey Drive in Golden — and let the newspaper’s employees have their pick.
“He brought them into the conference room and spread them out on the table,” Brooks said. “There were hundreds of them – and those were just the ones he was getting rid of.”
Tracy, 73, died Aug. 1 after being hospitalized for the past two weeks for a variety of health problems.
He started his 30-year career with the Golden Transcript as the marketing director in 1987. Through the years, he held the title of general manager, associate publisher and manager of special projects — the last of which he held to the present day.
Tracy seemed to know everybody and attend every community event, said former Golden City Manager Mike Bestor.
Tracy was one of the first people Bestor met when he moved to Golden to assume his role as city manager. On his second day on the job, in December 1993, Bestor stopped into the Golden Transcript and met Tracy for the first time.
“He certainly taught me the value of being well connected to the community,” Bestor said, adding that it seemed Tracy knew everybody and made it to every community event.
Leslie Klane, president and CEO of the Golden Chamber of Commerce, also has fond memories of Tracy.
“John was the first person who befriended me when I accepted my position with the Chamber two years ago,” she said. “His wisdom and guidance was always offered, always in kindness, and is something I will cherish.”
John Bandimere Jr., from Bandimere Speedway, remembered Tracy as “the epitome of what Jefferson County was all about. He will be missed very much.”
Tracy received much recognition and a long list of awards from various community organizations, including the Golden Rotary Club and the Golden Chamber of Commerce. He was named a Living Landmark by the Golden Landmarks Association, and he and his wife Jane were grand marshals in the Buffalo Bill Days 2015 Best of the West Parade. Last year, he helped accept the Golden Living Landmark award on behalf of the Golden Transcript, on the 150th anniversary of the paper’s founding.
In his free time, he enjoyed hiking, gardening and traveling with his wife, Jane.
“John was unfailingly kind, hardworking and helpful,” Transcript Editor Glenn Wallace said. “He was a guiding light to folks like myself that had joined the family in the last few years. Our entire staff is heartbroken.”